Translation - EnglishValuing an African traditional cereal, fonio
Jean-François Cruz, Famoi Bari, and Djibril Drama
http://www.inter-reseaux.org/IMG/pdf/GDS58-p16-p17-p18_fonio.pdf
Fonio is certainly the oldest cereal grown in West Africa. Despite good nutritional qualities, its valuation has long been hampered by the arduousness of its small-scale processing. Recent advances have helped mechanize several processing stages in order to better develop it.
In the cosmology of the Dogon people in Mali, the fonio seed, called pô, is considered "the seed of the world". Fonio has tiny grains, less than 1mm in size, making it very difficult to husk. This difficulty in processing has reduced fonio to a marginal cereal and led to its disappearance in certain regions. Long regarded as a minor cereal, fonio (also called "the poor man's cereal") is experiencing a renewed interest in urban areas because of its taste and nutritional qualities.
New techniques adapted to the needs of small businesses
Today in Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Guinea dozens of small businesses or women's groups sell fonio that is already processed and packaged in plastic 1kg bags (or even more rarely 500g). The range of fonio products is as follows:
- Precooked fonio (most common) sold in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Senegal...
-Milled fonio (quite rare) sold in Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Guinea...
-Grilled fonio (quite rare) exclusively sold in Guinea.
-Fonio 'djouka' or peanut fonio, mainly sold in Mali.
-Fonio flour (Very rare).
-Couscous 'moni' and 'dègue' or products rolled with fonio flour (very rare).
-Steamed fonio.
New products, while still rare, are often reserved for the export market. These different products are mainly sold in neighborhood shops or supermarkets in West African cities. The most commercialized product is precooked fonio which is exported to Europe or the United States to be sold in specialty shops. To enable the development of these new products, it was essential to improve processing techniques by modernizing the few existing machines and to design new ones. It was at the request of and close collaboration with processors that progress in improving post-harvest technologies has been made. This was coordinated the French Agricultural Research and International Cooperation Organization (CIRAD) and financed by the Common Fund for Commodities with support from the European Union.
Sector development through research breakthroughs
Processed and packaged fonio (pre-cooked or simply milled) is becoming increasingly popular and demand is growing at both the local and export levels. Small companies who were faced with the limits imposed by manual labor can now equip themselves with fonio processing machines that are both highly efficient and high quality. Although research is still needed to mechanize essential operations such as washing and grit removal, the development of stripping, cleaning, and drying equipment has helped existing businesses to better meet growing demand and has led to the emergence of a new set of small enterprises based around the production and delivery of fonio related services.
In the Missira neighborhood of Bamako we have seen businesses who specialize in milling or processing the grain at the household level appear. Whereas in the early 2000s there were only a few businesses that produced precooked fonio in West Africa, today that number is close to 50. Thanks to the technological advances made by researchers and in collaboration with processors, high quality processed fonio is now available in the neighborhood shops and supermarkets of West African cities and is regularly exported in small quantities to Europe or the United States. But as northern countries already have their own "rustic" or "gluten-free" cereals, the development of fonio should be primarily oriented towards the cities of the global South and to include producer countries.
The requirements of consumers in the cities of the South are often comparable to those of consumers in the North and are based on the product’s hygienic, nutritional, culinary, and gustatory qualities as well as on the diversity of products offered. To have quality products, it is essential to support local processors who often rely on precarious techniques and uncertain financing. The development of new fonio products can satisfy these requirements and provide greater income to the producers while potentially reviving its cultivation in areas where it has been gradually abandoned.